Psychology may be a science but psychotherapy is an art.
nancy mcwilliams
Meeting the needs of gender dysphoric youth is one of the most urgent and complex challenges facing the mental health field today. Therapy First envisions a world where these young people have access to care that follows widely recognized clinical guidelines, which support therapy first before medical intervention.
Therapy First’s programming focuses on training clinicians to meet the established standard of care and on supporting the delivery of developmentally appropriate, evidence-informed mental health care. By doing so, Therapy First helps ensure that the public has access to care that aligns with professional best practices and the developmental needs of youth.
Become A Member
Membership is open to licensed mental health professionals who align with Therapy First’s values. Members participate in a supportive community of professionals who collaborate to strengthen mental health care for youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
As a member, you’ll have access to peer supervision groups and clinical case conferences led by leaders in the field, discounted Therapy First webinars and trainings, and the opportunity to play an active role in advancing the mission of Therapy First.
Upcoming Webinar
Therapy First’s webinars provide knowledge on developmentally informed mental health care for youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
Dr. Lisa Anllo
March 30 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT
This webinar will draw attention to unmet needs relating to iatrogenic harm to sexual function for individuals who have a history of transgender identity and have received medical interventions that they later regret. Some of them choose to socially and medically detransition. In addition there are individuals who may similarly regret their medical transitions, but do not feel they are able to socially or medically detransition. Grief is a normal reaction to a range of irreversible sexual side effects that are experienced as a form of medical trauma that many feel they were inadequately prepared for and had not anticipated. Dr. Anllo will draw from the available research on detransition, personal accounts by detransitioners, and her clinical work with cancer survivors to make the comparison to the experience of coping with unanticipated and unacknowledged grief associated with iatrogenic harms of cancer treatment on sexual function. Much like cancer survivors, detransitioners who have shared their stories publicly report that they often struggle alone with significant trauma associated with loss of sexual function that is not routinely recognized within the medical or mental healthcare system. They deserve to be offered compassionate and trauma-informed care that is not currently accessible to them due to multiple barriers to care that will be highlighted. Dr. Anllo will make the case that psychosexual recovery is a long-term process that will not restore what has been lost, but nonetheless can be facilitated via access to culturally informed and existentially focused psychotherapy to promote post-traumatic growth and healing.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Recognize potential adverse impacts of medical transition on sexual function and how they may contribute to psychological experiences of grief.
- Identify obstacles to addressing needs for sexual rehabilitation among those who report being adversely impacted by medical transition including appropriateness of referrals for sexual medicine and reconstructive plastic surgery.
- Describe a trauma-informed approach to caring for psychosexual issues among individuals with experience of medical transition that utilizes an existential framework in which cultural competence is paramount.
Presenter Bio
Dr. Anllo is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Buffalo NY. She has advanced training and nearly 30 years of experience in clinical sex therapy and couples therapy including gender-related challenges. She is also an expert in managing emotional distress and sexual side effects of cancer treatment and has provided educational presentations on this topic for both survivor support groups and healthcare professionals. She is the author of a peer reviewed article on sexual life after breast cancer and a book chapter on sexual life after breast and prostate cancer, and more recently has published a new article on the topic of sexuality after detransition.
Therapy First webinars are open to the public. Parents, clinicians, teachers, and all those interested are welcome to attend. Psychologists and professional counselors are eligible to earn 1.5 CE credits for participating in the live webinar.
Find a Therapist
We help connect members of the public with therapists who align with the values of the organization.